I am surprised at how many people are not so happy with how the choices affect the game. I have been a long time gamer and this is the one game that I feel your decisions actually matter. Mass Effect and other games dont really give me the full impact of your choice. I rated it a ten, out of all the games I have ever played, this game is one of my all time favorites.

They dont effect the plot at all and in that case they dont matter. The same things always happen regardless of your choices. Shawn will always die, Larry will always die, If you save Ben he dies about half an hour of game play later, If you take Lilly with you she leaves about 5 minutes later. Carley or Doug was fairly different in their defense, but in the end again, you only buy one them time and by episode 4 there's no impact. I think people wanted to have more effect on how things eventually turned out. Who lived/died etc.

In the end all the choices do is change some dialogue about how some of other characters feel/felt about you.

Dont get me wrong though this game is still one of the greats as a narrative experience, but you dont have as much control as you're led to believe.

They dont effect the plot at all and in that case they dont matter. The same things always happen regardless of your choices. Shawn will always die, Larry will always die, If you save Ben he dies about half an hour of game play later, If you take Lilly with you she leaves about 5 minutes later. Carley or Doug was fairly different in their defense, but in the end again, you only buy one them time and by episode 4 there's no impact. I think people wanted to have more effect on how things eventually turned out. Who lived/died etc.

In the end all the choices do is change some dialogue about how some of other characters feel/felt about you.

Dont get me wrong though this game is still one of the greats as a narrative experience, but you dont have as much control as you're led to believe.

What I find hypocritical though is the fact there are only 2 games that allow people the kind of freedom where choices actually change the game.

1. Alpha Protocol - The best example made in the history of gaming as for as how your choices effect the story. Yet, this game flopped because people couldn't understand it was an RPG 1st, not a shooter.

Alpha Protocol is a top 10 game of all time for what it managed to do with the story and how you effect it.

2. Witcher 2 - Now I have not actually played this, but from what I heard/read it is in this discussion.

Now, besides these two exceptions, the kind of game people are asking for does not exist. And people don't realize how impossible it is to develop something like those 2 without a huge triple A budget and years of time.

Games like Mass Effect, Dues Ex: HR and others that are popular offer about as much freedom as this one does. If games like these get praised for offering "Options" then this game should blow em out of the water.

I don't know, I see a lot of conflation of choice and plot here. IRL, we make choices every day, but how much control do we have over the outcome? Some of the complaints about lack of choice read more like a desire for lack of consequence. I'm reminded of a dialogue exchange (regarding choice in games) in David Cronenberg's Existenz:

Ted: Free will... is obviously not a big factor in this little world of ours. Allegra: It's like real life. There's just enough to make it interesting.

What I find hypocritical though is the fact there are only 2 games that allow people the kind of freedom where choices actually change the game.

1. Alpha Protocol - The best example made in the history of gaming as for as how your choices effect the story. Yet, this game flopped because people couldn't understand it was an RPG 1st, not a shooter.

Alpha Protocol is a top 10 game of all time for what it managed to do with the story and how you effect it.

2. Witcher 2 - Now I have not actually played this, but from what I heard/read it is in this discussion.

Now, besides these two exceptions, the kind of game people are asking for does not exist. And people don't realize how impossible it is to develop something like those 2 without a huge triple A budget and years of time.

Games like Mass Effect, Dues Ex: HR and others that are popular offer about as much freedom as this one does. If games like these get praised for offering "Options" then this game should blow em out of the water.

Alpha Protocol (in my opinion) flopped because whoever made it has never used a mouse and keyboard before (at least playing the game), the hacking mini game was impossible with a mouse and keyboard.

anyway i think people want just slightly more variation when making different choices and a few that actually have a large impact on the narrative, obviously that means more work for telltale but it's not impossible especially now they have a fan base and know the time and money invested will get rewarded (with more money)

Alright, just finished the game - so decided to write a short review (sorry for my English).

I played the game for one time only without amending any of my decisions (playing like this adds much more reality to the plot). At the end I was pretty happy with most of them even though people here say that you can’t really deviate from the main line and that the ending is always the same

I liked how the game forces you to speculate and make predictions about different characters but then makes you realize how you were wrong:> I didn’t really trust the farmers but them being cannibals, man, that was unpredictable! I also did not expect the guy with a bottle to die the way he died (same with Katy’s suicide and Doug’s awkward death) > I also liked how the stealing from a car in the second episode is returning to you in sort of karma/butterfly effect way in 5th.

Some things I didn’t really get:> I didn’t like how that cancer patients and the doctor turned their backs on us so suddenly and took the boat.> The way Ken dies with Ben was quite underdeveloped for me and felt stupid.> The villain’s story was rushed as well.

All in all, thanks TT for making such a wonderful story with unforgettable experience. Definitely, one of the best games for me in terms of drama and emotions.

Episode 5 was upsetting and unsettling as weird as it sounds for me. I didn't like the idea of Lee dying at all, Lee was my most favourite character other than Clementine in the entire game series. The character development really began to grow on me and I loved every minute of it until it came to an end which I'm very disappointed about. The whole thing about Kenny in the alley too with Ben, I mean I think it may of been pretty obvious that Ben didn't stand a chance in surviving that scene but there's always a one in a million chance that maybe someone has survived this whole thing. It really makes you think. Kenny? Lily? Christa and Omid? What is Clementine's next move, her parents and Lee are dead. So what now? Does she just go along with Christa and Omid (if they're both okay of course) The possibilities are all there. I guess we're all just going to have to hold on out until Season two? If there is one, someone fill me in on this!

The ONLY thing I wish I could have said to Clementine when Lee was dying is "I love you Clementine (and) I'll miss you".

I know, and I'm glad, we got to say the option to say "I'll miss you". But it tore my heart out not being able to get that chance to say it. I guess it was for the best since she had just seen her parents as walkers? It would be too much or taken the wrong way?

EndingI remember seeing one of the creators saying the first thing he asks people is what they did at the end, whether they told Clementine to shoot or not, and why. In the dialogue before the choice she is aware that the only way not to turn is to be shot in the head. So I, in turn, did not say anything because I felt like it was her choice to make whether or not she wanted to shoot me. I was giving her that choice because she was going to have to do it on her own after Lee's death.

Story Line

The FarmI was surprised that I when I talked to the brothers at the farm (when the electric fence came on) that I wasn't allowed to call out the older brother when he said "I thought when I heard him yell he was giving me the all clear" But it wasn't until after the fence came on that Mark yelped and got shot by an arrow.

This is random but I loved the fact they used a Georgia Quarter in the meat locker scene. I definitely appreciate those little details.

The StrangerOne of my favorite parts in the story is when Lee is confronted by the stranger that kidnaps Clementine. It's wonderful that you are confronted by the choices you made by an actual character. He almost embodies a God character. Not only that but all of those decisions you made (potentially) were to keep Clementine safe, but it was with those choices that she, in turn, becomes kidnapped. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the metaphorical twist on that.

Over All on Game and Game PlayBeautiful writing, voice acting, intensity, character development. There is no other game out there like it. even with the couple of glitches I encountered it was nothing that drew me away from the game.

I know a lot of people say that they wish the options really did "change" things but I think it somewhat reflects life. It's so much more about how you want to live with your decisions even if there is no way of changing the inevitable. I enjoyed the fact that the company was able to work with the capabilities they had and made a wonderful game with the limitations of not having completely different branching endings.

Also the game say it "adapts" to you choices, not necessarily changes, so it warns you. But man do I love those small references, in future conversations you have with people, that really ties it all in. I feel like I really was developing relationships with these characters.

Season 2:I'm sure the creators of this game will only produce a sequel that not only lives up to this breathtaking game but also will be even better.

All I can hope for is that they take their time with the game and not rush through it. I'd rather wait for awesomeness!Final ThoughtsThis game has been haunting me since I finished it a few days ago. No book, movie, tv show, or game has ever done that to me. So more props to you.

Also I told my Mom about this (I don't live to far from her) and she wanted to play it but is terrible at controls in video games. So we made a deal that I'll control the movement etc. and she picks all the dialogue and choices made. even she loves it haha!

At the end of the day, a good game is a good game. In truth it didn't feel like a game, but more like life . Although episode 5 did have it's disappointments, I still have to give TWD the game a 10/10! It was an incredible experience, and an entirely new way to play video games!(alothough I only played cuz TWD ) Thank you Telltale for the awesome season and I am eagerly and patiently waiting for season 2. Hopefully we can get more than a sequel out of you all xD. Until then, I wish ya luck!

In terms of the whole series; the story telling was on an epic scale. I finished the game several days ago but it's still having a real effect on me. There aren't many mediums that can do that. On that first play through, the twists and heartbreak of it all is fantastic; drawing you in emotionally, only to shatter you against the rocks before the heart-wrenching finale.

The illusion of choice was a huge gut punch though, and not in the emotional sense. I get that the game was underfunded and relatively obscure before its release, truly I do. I get that there was a desire to release it in an episodic format too, though I think I need to point out that I would really, REALLY, like the next series to have more time - or be released all at once much later - and feel more like the finished product.

Despite the many defenders of the game's 'choice', it is almost entirely an illusion. The same characters are doomed to die and the same set pieces and endings are fated to play out. Very enjoyable and emotionally for a single play through? Absolutely. Worth going back for the dialogue possibilities? Yes. However, almost nothing is actually changed beyond certain parts of the dialogue. I'm not asking for the butterfly effect, but one choice that actually produced a different outcome - beyond dialogue - isn't too much to ask for a game supposedly tailored to how you play.

It also lessens the impact on reflection, and thus your likelihood or re-engaging and becoming involved all over again. The Stranger acts the way he does whatever happens, the group have the same fates or ambiguities and so all the gut-wrenching decisions were essentially for the illusion of changing things. Why bother being moral at all? You really connect with Clementine first time around, but I can't help feeling that the experimental 'how will this make her react?' will be a more powerful urge on a replay. I have serious doubts about the next season actually recording things you said to her/ways you taught her (though this only equates to about five different lines of dialogue, given everyone's save is virtually the same after episode five).

All in all, I can't help feeling that a game like GTA4, which was never ostensibly about choice, actually gave me more of a choice. Of course, it's totally different in that killing a character just means a short cut scene and then they're gone forever... but I had several actual choices which I was free to make. Hell, you can even make a choice on the ending, which gets a different character killed depending on your choice.

The whole 'illusion of choice is an allegory for life' is - I'm sorry to say - total bull. When characters in the t.v. series die stupid, preventable, deaths (those that are good characters), it annoys me. When characters I've been crafting relationships with in a story I'm genuinely emotionally attached to die regardless, it feels like something of a betrayal.

Overall, it would probably be something I'd describe as unmissable, but it's the sort of game you may as well rent or borrow for a few days rather than buy, as the replay-ability is severely limited. It's emotionally involving right up until the end, but reflection only enhances the sense of being really let down by the idea of tailored choices. The prevalence of very lagging cutscenes/dialogue choices also detracted somewhat from the tension (when played on the PS3).